Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and program

ABSTRACT

The present invention discloses an image processing method and an image processing apparatus which is capable of preventing wasteful consumption of toner and an increase in processing time when a page including information not desired by a user such as an advertisement on a Web page is printed. According to the image forming method of the present invention, the image forming method includes a mode for printing image data without change and a mode for simplifying and printing the image data or not printing the image data, and executes print processing according to a mode set by the user.

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.12/408,164, filed Mar. 20, 2009, now pending, which is a divisional ofU.S. application Ser. No. 10/720,233, filed Nov. 25, 2003, now U.S. Pat.No. 7,532,336.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a technique for printing based on data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, there has been realized a system which connects aserver apparatus, for example, a World Wide Web server (hereinafterreferred to as WWW server), which holds various kinds of information,and a computer (Web client), in which special purpose software (WWWbrowser) for accessing this WWW server using the HTTP (HyperTextTransfer Protocol) is installed, with a network so as to make itpossible for the Web client to refer to data on the WWW server.

With this system, the data on the WWW server can be downloaded to theWeb client using the WWW browser. Thus, a user of the Web client iscapable of printing the data on the WWW server by, for example,instructing a printer usable from the Web client to print and outputdata which is stored in the Web client once. In addition, for example,as described in JP-A-2000-39982, a printer is capable of acquiring datafrom a WWW server according to an instruction from a computer to performprinting on the basis of the acquired data.

However, although information desired by the user is included in thedata on the WWW server which the user refers to using the WWW browser,information not required by the user may be included therein.

In the case where the user refers to data of the HTML format such as aWeb page with the WWW browser, the WWW browser sequentially acquires thedata, which is referred to by the user, from the data of the HTML formatwhile interpreting the data of the HTML format and displays the Webpage. In this case, information which is less important for the user andinformation which is highly important for the user may be mixed ininformation displayed by the WWW browser.

In instructing printing from the WWW browser, in general, entireinformation displayed on a display is printed. Therefore, when the userinstructs printing of a certain Web page, even if information which theuser does not need or information with low necessity is included in thepage, entire information in the page is converted into print data andprinted.

In the case of the data of the HTML format, most of information isreferred to according to hyperlink, and the WWW browser analyzes theinformation and acquires and displays necessary information. Then, it isdifficult for the user to change a data acquisition operation of the WWWbrowser according to importance for information. After all, informationwhich the user does not wish to print is included in print data.

As an example of such information which the user does not wish to print,there is image information. In recent years, a Web page tends to includea large quantity of image information, and the image information itselfoften becomes large in size. Thus, in the case where a Web pageincluding many images is converted into print data and sent to aprinter, processing load of the printer increases, and the printercannot perform high-speed print processing. In addition, printing of animage consumes a relatively large quantity of recording materialscompared with printing of data such as text data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been devised in view of such drawbacks of therelated art, and it is an object of the present invention to, forexample, in printing information including image information unnecessaryfor a user such as a Web page, improve a printing speed and make itpossible for the user to choose how to print the image information tothereby realize prevention of wasteful toner consumption.

According to the present invention, the foregoing object is attained byproviding an image processing apparatus which processes printing basedupon data, comprising: print mode acquisition means which acquires atype of a print mode set by a user out of a plurality of print modesincluding a first mode for printing an image based upon data, a secondmode for printing another image instead of the image based upon data,and a third mode for not printing the image based upon data; and controlmeans which controls print processing according to the type of the printmode acquired by the print mode acquisition means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the foregoingobject is attained by providing an image processing method forprocessing printing based upon data, comprising controlling printprocessing in a print mode which is set by a user out of a plurality ofprint modes including a first mode for printing an image based upondata, a second mode for printing another image instead of the imagebased upon data, and a third mode for not printing the image based upondata.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, theforegoing object is attained by providing a program which processesprinting based upon data, the program causing a computer to execute: aprint mode acquisition step of acquiring a type of a print mode set by auser out of a plurality of print mode including a first mode forprinting an image based upon data, a second mode for printing anotherimage instead of the image based upon data, and a third mode for notprinting the image based upon data; and a print processing step ofperforming print processing according to the type of the print modeacquired in the print mode acquisition step.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of an overall structure of animage forming system using an image processing apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a diagram explaining a constitution for printing and a flow ofdata;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a constitution of an availableprint command;

FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining a Web page and a constitution of a printcommand corresponding to the Web page;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart explaining entire print processing;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining details of high-speed mode printprocessing;

FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining correspondence among the high-speed modeprint processing, a print command, and a print result;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart explaining details of text mode print processing;

FIG. 9 is a diagram explaining correspondence among the text mode printprocessing, a print command, and a print result;

FIG. 10A is a flowchart explaining entire print processing;

FIG. 10B is a flowchart explaining entire print processing; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a constitution of an imagedata portion of a print command.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a structure of an imageforming system using a printer as an example of an image processingapparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In the figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a host computer, whichincludes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, an external storage (e.g., a hard diskdrive), a network interface, a printer port (a serial port or a parallelport), and the like, and is generally realized by a general purposecomputer which is on the market as a personal computer.

In this system, the host computer 100 having a WWW browser programstored in the external storage is made connectable to a WWW server 102through a not-shown network interface and via the Internet 101. Inaddition, a printer 103 is connected to the host computer 100 throughthe printer port.

When the host computer 100 acquires information held in the WWW server102 such as a Web page, first, a WWW browser on the host computer 100 isstarted up, and this WWW browser accesses the WWW server 102 to acquirethe information via the Internet 101 using an OS or the like running onthe host computer 100. This acquired information is analyzed by the WWWbrowser to be displayed on a display. In addition, in printing theacquired information, the WWW browser on the host computer 100 issues aprint instruction, and the acquired information is converted into printdata, to which the printer 103 is capable of applying print processing,by the WWW browser via the printer driver or the like and sent to theprinter 103.

The printer having received the print data executes the print processingon the basis of the acquired data.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of data at the time of printing inthe system of FIG. 1 and a constitution for the print processing.

When an print instruction is given to a WWW browser 200 of the hostcomputer 100 from, for example, a user, the WWW browser 200 (anoperating system may be used also as the WWW browser) generatesinstructions for drawing an image 201 and a character 202. Theseinstructions are converted into a print command 204 of a data format,which the printer 103 is capable of analyzing, by a print commandgeneration section 203 such as a printer driver and sent to the printer103 through a communication cable. In this way, the host computer 100controls print processing which uses the printer 103.

Upon receiving the print command, the printer 103 analyzes the printcommand in a bitmap data generation section 205 and creates bitmap datausing a drawing routine corresponding to the respective drawinginstructions in the command. The created bitmap data 206 is convertedinto a video signal by a video interface block. Then, the bitmap data206 is outputted to a printer engine 207 and printed.

Note that, although the host computer 100 and the printer 103 are shownas separate bodies, the respective sections of the host computer 100 maybe incorporated in the printer 103.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of data constitution of a printcommand to be sent to the printer 103. FIG. 3 shows a print command ofoutput data in which the number of output pages is N. The print commandconsists of a job header 301, a print data section 302, an end headersection 303. In addition, the job header 301 includes job startinformation 304 and information such as a job ID 305 for the job. Theprint data section 302 includes information such as a resolution 306 andan output sheet size 307 at the time of output as well as data such asstart instructions 308 for pages, character data 309, and image data310. Further, the end header 303 includes job end information 311 of thejob.

The bitmap data generation section 205 in the printer 103 analyzes andprocesses this print command, whereby the print command is convertedinto bitmap data.

Note that, as shown in the figure, the image data consists of positioninformation 312, an image size 313, a compression format 314, URLinformation 315, and an image code 316, and the character data consistsof position information 317, character pitch information 318, and acharacter code 319.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a state in which informationheld by the WWW server 102 is displayed by the WWW browser of the hostcomputer 100. Here, image information is displayed together withcharacter information on a display window of the WWW browser. As shownin the figure, the displayed pieces of information are converted intodata of a print data section corresponding to character data 402, 405,and 406, and image data 401, 403, 404, 407, and 408, respectively.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing entire print processing of the printer 103in FIG. 1.

First, the printer 103 performs mode selection processing with respectto print processing for a Web page (step S501). In this embodiment, itis assumed that selectable modes are a normal mode, a high-speed mode,and a text mode. However, other modes may be selectable, or only two ofthe modes may be selected.

Here, the normal mode is a normal print mode for printing a page just asdisplayed on the WWW browser. The high-speed mode is a mode for, insteadof printing image data in a page displayed on the WWW browser, printinginformation identifying image data, which is information indicatingreference to the image data, for example, URL (Uniform Resource Locater)in a position where the image is arranged in the page. In addition, thetext mode is a mode for not printing image information in a pagedisplayed on the WWW browser but printing the page after cutting down apart where the image is arranged and flowing character data into thepart to change a layout.

It is possible to use an arbitrary method for selection of the printprocessing mode. For example, the print processing mode may be selectedon a setting screen of a printer driver corresponding to the printer103, which is installed in the host computer 100, and notified to theprinter from the host computer 103. Alternatively, the print processingmode may be selected from a setting panel provided in the printer 103and stored in a storage such as a nonvolatile memory in the printer 103.Note that, in the case where processing for selecting a mode isperformed on the host computer 100 side, mode selection on the printer103 becomes unnecessary, and step S501 can be omitted.

In step S502, the printer 103 refers to the notification from the hostcomputer 100 or an internal storage and judges whether or not theselected mode is the normal mode. If the normal mode is not selected, instep S503, the printer 103 further judges whether or not the selectedmode is the high-speed mode. Here, if the selected mode is thehigh-speed mode, in step S504 for high-speed mode print processing, aprint command is created anew. FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of thehigh-speed mode print processing.

In the high-speed mode, the inputted print command is analyzed by thebitmap data formation section in step S601, and in step S602, it isjudged whether data of a print data section is an image data portion ora character data portion. As a result, if the data is judged as thecharacter data portion, the data is not changed. On the other hand, ifthe data is judged as the image data portion, the position information312 and the URL information 315 shown in FIG. 3 are extracted from thedata in step S603, and the other pieces of information including theimage code are directly deleted from the data. In step S604, the printer103 creates character data for printing a URL in a place, where theimage is originally arranged, on the basis of the position informationand the URL information extracted in step S603. In step S605, theprinter 103 generates a new print command. On the basis of these printcommands created anew, the printer 103 generates bitmap data in stepS506 and executes print processing.

FIG. 7 is a diagram schematically showing processing in the high-speedmode explained in FIG. 6.

There is a Web page in which image information and character informationare mixed as indicated by 701 in the figure, and a print commandindicated by 702 is generated by print processing. In processing thisprint command, if the high-speed mode has been selected, image dataportions are converted into character data including URL information asindicated by 703. This character data becomes a new print command,whereby a print output result as indicated by 704 can be obtained.

In addition, in the selection of a print mode in step S501, if the textmode is selected, a new print command is created anew in step S505 fortext mode print processing. FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the text modeprint processing.

In the text mode, first, contents of the inputted print command areanalyzed in step S801, and it is judged in step S802 whether data of aprint data section thereof is an image data portion or a character dataportion. As a result, if the data is judged as the image data portion,the data is not subjected to any processing in step S803 and is directlydeleted. On the other hand, if the data is judges as the character dataportion, a layout is changed in processing of step S804.

In changing the layout, after subjecting respective character data tointegration processing once to turn the data into one character data,the printer 103 creates a character data portion anew from informationsuch as a sheet size, an effective print area, and a character pitchincluded in a print data section to generate a new print command in stepS805. The printer 103 executes generation of bitmap data (step S506) andprint processing on the basis of these newly created print commands.

FIG. 9 is a diagram schematically showing the processing in the textmode explained in FIG. 8.

As indicated by 901 in the figure, there is a Web page in which imageinformation and character information are mixed, a print command asindicated by 902 is generated by print processing. In processing thisprint command, if the text mode has been selected, as indicated by 903,the image data portion is deleted, and a layout is changed for thecharacter data portion. This print command turns into a new printcommand, and print output result indicated by 904 can be obtained.

As described above, according to the first embodiment of the presentinvention, in printing a Web page, a method of processing imageinformation of the Web page is made selectable, whereby the imageinformation can be easily removed from print information, and printprocessing can be performed at a high speed and with toner consumptionsuppressed.

Second Embodiment

An invention in accordance with a second embodiment of the presentinvention is an information processing apparatus which includes: athumbnail generation section which generates thumbnails of image dataincluded in data instructed to be printed; a display section whichdisplays a user interface with which a user is capable of settingimportance for each thumbnail; and a print command section which, inaccordance with the importance, generates a print command for datainstructed to be printed, and an image processing apparatus whichreceives a print command added with importance for the image data andperforms image formation, the image processing apparatus including: ajudgment section which judges importance for the image data included inthe print command; and an image forming section which performs imageformation of the image data with ordinary image pattern formationprocessing or processing capable of forming an image faster than usualaccording to the judged importance.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are flowcharts explaining print processing in an imageforming system which uses the image processing apparatus in accordancewith the second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10A showsprocessing which is performed in the host computer 100, and FIG. 10Bshows processing which is performed on the printer 103 side.

The print processing for a Web page in the second embodiment ischaracterized by generating thumbnails of image data included in the Webpage which is instructed to be printed, causing a user to selectimportance for respective images, and switching the normal mode and thehigh-speed mode according to set importance.

In step S1001, the host computer 100 creates thumbnails of respectiveimage data included in the Web page which is instructed to be printed.Next, in step S1002, the host computer 100 displays the thumbnailscreated in the previous step S1001 and causes the user to selectimportance for each piece of image information included in each page tobe printed. A printer driver can present this selection screen.

The user selects, for example, pull-down menus or radio buttons whichare displayed adjacent to the thumbnails displayed in the selectedscreen to thereby select importance for the respective images. In thiscase, setting may be required for all the images. However, it is alsopossible to, for example, set default importance to low importance andcause the user to select only images with high importance. In addition,in this embodiment, there are only two stages of importance, namely,high and low. However, if two or more stages of importance are to beselected, the number of stages of importance is arbitrary.

In addition, a method of setting the importance may be any method suchas setting using a GUI or other setting as long as the user can setimportance for respective images existing in a Web page while looking atthumbnails.

Further, in the case where importance for image information is set, itis also possible to adopt a method with which importance can bedetermined collectively.

The processing for selecting importance for images ends as the userselects an “end” button on the selection screen.

When the processing for selecting importance ends, the host computer 100generates a print command on which the importance is reflected. Morespecifically, the host computer 100 inserts information on importanceanew in the constitution of the image data portion shown in FIG. 3 andholds set values of importance for the respective images in the imagedata portion.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a constitution of the image data portion inthis embodiment.

FIG. 11 denotes a constitution of the image data portion which includesthe information on importance anew. The importance determined in stepS1002 is held in 1101.

Note that, since importance is not set for the character data portion,the same command as the format shown in FIG. 3 is generated.

Upon receiving the print command from the host computer 100, the printer103 analyzes the print command in the bitmap data generation section 205in step S1004. Then, the printer 103 does not change character dataportions but judges importance only for image data portions in stepS1005.

Then, the printer 103 does not change image data portions with high setimportance such that print processing of the normal mode is performed.In addition, if necessary, the printer 103 deletes the item ofimportance in an image data portion to change it to the sameconstitution as the image data portion shown in FIG. 3. On the otherhand, the printer 103 subjects image data portions with low importanceto the high-speed mode print processing described above in step S1007.

Then, in step S1008, the printer 103 performs processing for generatingbitmap data and print processing.

As a result, printing in the normal mode is performed for characterinformation existing in the Web page and images for which highimportance is set, and for images for which low importance is set, URLscorresponding to the images are printed instead of the images.

As described above, according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention, in printing a Web page, it is possible to determineimportance for respective images in the Web page. Consequently, printingmethods can be selected easily for respective pieces of imageinformation, and print processing can be performed at a high speed andwith toner consumption suppressed in conformity with an intention of auser.

Note that, in this embodiment, the case where setting of importance andgeneration of a print command, on which the importance is reflected, areperformed on the host computer 100 side is described. However, it isalso possible to execute the entire processing of FIGS. 10A and 10B inthe printer 103 in the case where it is possible for the user to confirmcontents of thumbnails and select thumbnails with the printer 103 suchas the case where the printer 103 includes a color display device.

In addition, in this embodiment, the case where importance is set forrespective images existing in a Web page to be printed is described.However, since a large number of images tend to be included in a Webpage in recent years, importance of images may be set collectively by aunit of print page. In this case, instead of generating thumbnails ofrespective image, it is sufficient to generate a thumbnail of the entirepage by a unit of print page and select importance. Further, in thiscase, it is sufficient to set importance, which is set for image dataportions of a print command, commonly by a unit of selected print page.

Third Embodiment

In the second embodiment, importance of images is determined usingthumbnails of the images. A third embodiment of the present invention ischaracterized in that importance of images is determined according toserver names included in reference destinations (corresponding URLs) ofthe images.

In other words, an invention in accordance with this embodiment is aninformation processing apparatus which is characterized by including: adetection section which detects data representing reference destinationsof image data included in a Web page instructed to be printed; anextraction section which extracts server names included in the datarepresenting reference destinations; a setting section which refers tothe extracted server names and information on correspondence betweenserver names and importance registered in advance to set importance foreach image data; and a print command generation section which, inaccordance with the importance, generates a print command of the Webpage instructed to be printed.

In this embodiment, first, the information processing apparatus detectsreference destinations of image data existing in a Web page instructedto be printed from a markup language (HTML, XML, etc.) constituting theWeb page. Then, the information processing apparatus refers to a tableor the like storing correspondence between servers and importancedecided in advance using names of servers (domains) where original imagedata exist included in the reference destinations to therebyautomatically set importance for each image. In this case, if thesetting has been made once, importance is automatically set withoutnecessity for a user to select importance in detail. Naturally, in thecase where unregistered domains exist or according to an instruction ofthe user, it is also possible to constitute the image processingapparatus so as to perform setting every time a Web page is printed.

Since processing after setting importance is as described in the secondembodiment, the processing will not be described here.

As described above, according to the third embodiment of the presentinvention, in printing a Web page, importance is determined forrespective images in the Web page for each server where image data ofthe images are placed. Consequently, importance of images can bedetermined more easily, and print processing can be performed at a highspeed and with toner consumption suppressed in conformity with anintention of a user.

Note that, in the second and the third embodiments, it is needless tomention that association of importance and mode of image processing isnot unique. In addition, other than printing URLs instead of images inthe high-speed mode, an arbitrary method, which can realize toner savingand high-speed processing compared with the case where images aredirectly printed, such as shading processing or interpolation processingcan be used.

Fourth Embodiment

In the first to the third embodiments, only the case where a printcommand is reconstituted in the image processing apparatus is described.However, it is also possible to perform the same processing on the hostcomputer 100 side. In this case, although processing on the hostcomputer 100 side increases, processing in a printer does not have to bechanged from that in the past. In addition, an amount of data to betransferred to the printer decreases in the high-speed mode and the textmode. Thus, higher speed processing can be expected.

In this case, it is possible to directly generate a command afterreconstitution according to a set mode without reconstituting a printcommand after generating it once. Thus, with such a constitution, higherspeed processing can be expected.

In other words, in the processing in the first embodiment shown in FIG.5, it is sufficient to cause a user to perform selection of a print modein the host computer 100 and, in accordance with a result of theselection, if the high-speed mode or the text mode is set, directlygenerate a final print command without performing the print commandanalysis (steps S601 and S801) in FIGS. 6 and 8.

In addition, in the second and the third embodiments, it is sufficientto directly generate a final print command according to importancewithout adding the importance in a command. In other words, in FIG. 10,when importance of images is determined in step S1002, it is sufficientto perform processing in the normal mode or the high-speed print modeaccording to the importance and directly generate a final command, andthen transfer the command to a printer.

Other Embodiments

In the above-described embodiments, in order to facilitate understandingof the invention, a Web page, in which images not required by a user arehighly likely to be included, is described as an object of printing.However, it is evident that the present invention is applicablegenerally to printing of files in which texts and images are mixed.Therefore, in printing of a word processor document in which images andtexts are mixed, it is possible to perform the processing just asdescribed above except that an application running on a host computer isnot a WWW browser but a document creation application.

Moreover, in the above-described embodiments, an object ofsimplification of printing is an image. However, in applications inrecent years, there are a Web page, a word processor document, and thelike in which voice files, motion picture files, and the like areincluded. Therefore, it is possible to arbitrarily set an object ofsimplification of printing other than an image.

Note that the present invention also includes the case where a programof software for realizing the function of the above-describedembodiments (a program corresponding to the flowchart described in theembodiments) is supplied to a system or an apparatus having a computer,which is capable of executing the program, from a recording mediumdirectly or using wire/wireless communication, and the computer of thesystem or the apparatus executes the supplied program, wherebyequivalent functions are attained.

Therefore, a program code itself, which is supplied and installed in acomputer in order to realize the functional processing of the presentinvention in the computer, also realizes the present invention. In otherwords, a computer program itself for realizing the functional processingof the present invention is also included in the present invention.

In that case, the program may take any form such as an object code, aprogram to be executed by an interpreter, or script data to be suppliedto an OS as long as it has a function of a program.

As a recording medium for supplying a program, for example, there are amagnetic recording medium such as a flexible disk, a hard disk, or amagnetic tape, an optical/magneto-optical storage medium such as an MO,a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a CD-RW, a DVD-ROM, a DVD-R, or a DVD-RW, and anonvolatile semiconductor memory.

As a method of supplying a program using wire/wireless communication,for example, there is a method of storing a computer program which formsthe present invention in a server on a computer network or a data filewhich can be a computer program forming the present invention on aclient computer (program data file) such as a file which is compressedand includes an automatic install function, and downloading a programdata file to a client computer which has made an access. In this case,it is also possible to divide the program data file into a plurality ofsegment files and arrange the segment files in different servers.

In other words, a server apparatus, which causes a plurality of users todownload a program data file for realizing the functional processing ofthe present invention with a computer, is also included in the presentinvention.

In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted and theencrypted program is stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM anddistributed to users satisfying predetermined conditions. The users arecaused to download key information for decrypting the encrypted programfrom a home page via, for example, the Internet, whereby the keyinformation is supplied to the users and the users are caused to executethe encrypted program using the key information and install the programin a computer. The functions of the embodiments can also be realized inthis way.

Further, a computer executes a read-out program, whereby the functionsof the embodiments are realized. In addition, an OS or the like runningon the computer performs a part or the whole of actual processing on thebasis of an instruction of the program. The functions of the embodimentsare also realized by the processing.

Moreover, after a program read out from a recording medium is written ina memory provided in a function extending board inserted in a computeror a function extending unit connected to the computer, a CPU or thelike provided in the function extending board or the function extendingunit performs a part or the whole of actual processing on the basis ofan instruction of the program, and the functions of the embodiments arealso realized by the processing.

As described above, according to the present invention, in printinginformation including image information unnecessary for a user such as aWeb page, it is made possible for the user to select how imageinformation should be printed, whereby it becomes possible to improve aprinting speed or prevent wasteful toner consumption.

As many apparently widely different embodiments of the present inventioncan be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it isto be understood that the invention is not limited to the specificembodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.

1. An image forming apparatus for performing a printing process of a Webpage provided from a server apparatus, the server apparatuscommunicatively connected to the image forming apparatus via a network,the image forming apparatus comprising: a display unit that displays aplurality of images contained in the Web page; a selection unit thatprompts a user to select either an image to be printed in a printingprocess of the Web page or an image not to be printed in the printingprocess of the Web page, from the plurality of images displayed by saiddisplay unit; and an image forming unit that performs the printingprocess of the Web page in response to the selection via said selectionunit so that a printed Web page includes the image to be printed anddoes not include the image not to be printed, wherein said selectionunit prompts the user to select an importance for each of the pluralityof images contained in the Web page and displayed by said display unit,and wherein the image forming apparatus regards an image of selectedhigh importance as the image to be printed and regards an image ofselected low importance as the image not to be printed.
 2. The imageforming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a generationunit that generates thumbnail images for the plurality of imagescontained in the Web page, wherein said display unit displays thethumbnail images generated by said generation unit as the plurality ofimages contained in the Web page.
 3. The image forming apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein said image forming unit performs theprinting process of the Web page so that the printed Web page includesthe image to be printed and includes a URL corresponding to the imagenot to be printed instead of the image not to be printed.
 4. Aninformation processing apparatus comprising: a acquisition unit thatacquires a Web page from a server apparatus communicatively connected tothe information processing apparatus; a display unit that displays aplurality of images contained in the acquired Web page; a selection unitthat prompts a user to select either an image to be printed in aprinting process of the Web page or an image not to be printed in theprinting process of the Web page, from the plurality of images displayedby said display unit; and a request unit that requests, based on theselection via said selection unit, an image forming apparatuscommunicatively connected to the information processing apparatus toperform a printing process of the Web page so that a printed Web pageincludes the image to be printed and does not include the image not tobe printed, wherein said selection unit prompts the user to select animportance for each of the plurality of images contained in the Web pageand displayed by said display unit, and wherein the informationprocessing apparatus regards an image of selected high importance as theimage to be printed and regards an image of selected low importance asthe image not to be printed.
 5. The information processing apparatusaccording to claim 4, further comprising a generation unit thatgenerates thumbnail images for the plurality of images contained in theWeb page, wherein said display unit displays the thumbnail imagesgenerated by said generation unit as the plurality of images containedin the Web page.
 6. The information processing apparatus according toclaim 4, further comprising a command generation unit that generates aprint command to instruct the image forming apparatus to perform theprinting process in that the printed Web page includes the image to beprinted and does not include the image not to be printed, and whereinsaid request unit request the printing process of the Web page to theimage forming apparatus by sending the print command generated by saidcommand generation unit to the image forming apparatus.
 7. Theinformation processing according to claim 4, wherein in response to therequest for the printing process from said request unit, said imageforming apparatus performs the printing process of the Web page so thatthe printed Web page includes the image to be printed and includes a URLcorresponding to the image not to be printed instead of the image not tobe printed.
 8. A control method for controlling an image formingapparatus for performing a printing process of a Web page provided froma server apparatus, the server apparatus communicatively connected tothe image forming apparatus via a network, the method comprising: adisplay step of displaying by a display unit a plurality of imagescontained in the acquired Web page on a display device; a selection stepof prompting a user to select either an image to be printed in aprinting process of the Web page or an image not to be printed in theprinting process of the Web page, from the plurality of images displayedon said display device; and an image forming step in that an imageforming unit performs the printing process of the Web page in responseto the selection via said selection unit so that a printed Web pageincludes the image to be printed and does not include the image not tobe printed, wherein said selection step prompts the user to select animportance for each of the plurality of images contained in the Web pageand displayed by said display step, and wherein an image of selectedhigh importance is regarded as the image to be printed and an image ofselected low importance is regarded as the image not to be printed.
 9. Acontrol method of an information processing apparatus, comprising: anacquisition step in that an acquisition unit acquires a Web page from aserver apparatus, the server apparatus communicatively connected to theimage processing apparatus: a display step of displaying by a displayunit a plurality of images contained in the acquired Web page; aselection step of prompting a user to select either an image to beprinted in a printing process of the Web page or an image not to beprinted in the printing process of the Web page, from the plurality ofimages displayed by said display unit; and a request step of requesting,based on the selection in said selection step, an image formingapparatus communicatively connected to the information processingapparatus to perform a printing process of the Web page so that aprinted Web page includes the image to be printed and does not includethe image not to be printed, wherein said selection step prompts theuser to select an importance for each of the plurality of imagescontained in the Web page and displayed by said display step, andwherein an image of selected high importance is regarded as the image tobe printed and an image of selected low importance is regarded as theimage not to be printed.
 10. A computer-readable storage medium storinga computer-executable program for controlling an image forming method ofperforming a printing process of a Web page provided from a serverapparatus, the server apparatus communicatively connected to an imageforming apparatus via a network, the image forming method comprising thesteps of: a displaying step displaying on a display unit a plurality ofimages contained in the Web page; a selecting step of selecting eitheran image to be printed in a printing process of the Web page or an imagenot to be printed in the printing process of the Web page, from theplurality of images displayed by said display unit; and an image formingstep forming the printing process of the Web page in response to theselection via said selection unit so that a printed Web page includesthe image to be printed and does not include the image not to beprinted, wherein said selection step prompts the user to select animportance for each of the plurality of images contained in the Web pageand displayed by said display step, and wherein an image of selectedhigh importance is regarded as the image to be printed and an image ofselected low importance is regarded as the image not to be printed. 11.A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer-executable programfor controlling an information processing method comprising the stepsof: an acquisition step of acquiring a Web page from a server apparatus,the server apparatus communicatively connected to an image processingapparatus; a display step of displaying plurality of images contained inthe acquired Web page; a selection step of selecting either an image tobe printed in a printing process of the Web page or an image not to beprinted in the printing process of the Web page, from the displayedplurality of images; and a request step of requesting, based on theselection via said selection unit, an image forming apparatuscommunicatively connected to the image processing apparatus to perform aprinting process of the Web page so that a printed Web page includes theimage to be printed and does not include the image not to be printed,wherein said selection step prompts the user to select an importance foreach of the plurality of images contained in the Web page and displayedby said display step, and wherein an image of selected high importanceis regarded as the image to be printed and an image of selected lowimportance is regarded as the image not to be printed.